PARK AND CEA\ETER\' 
229 
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The i>ubli<:her is not responsible for views expressed by correspondents, 
but no communications will be noticed having' a personal nature or mat icions 
intent. Communications must always be signed, not necessarily for publica- 
tion but as an evid nee of good faith. 
Some Practical Suggestions. 
The cemetery comes to the people as a necessity, and 
whether an evil or a good thing must be accepted, even with 
faults Those who lived in the first quarter of the present cen- 
tury had to deal with the small “Church Yards,” or worse still 
the “town plot,” sometimes known as “(lod’s Acre,” The experi- 
ence of this scheme generally brought the people face to face 
with something like a nuisance. And why? Not particularly on 
sanitary grounds, but rather on account of the essentially con- 
stitutional neglect that with rare exceptions followed. 
With the introduction of the association principle, much 
better results were ardently hoped for and have been in a good 
degree truly realized. 
An additional experience of sixty years on the Association 
plan, has already revealed some of the final consequences of mis. 
guided indulgence and a too lavish expenditure for what will 
eventually incumber, rather than improve the landscape. If the 
writer properly gauges the general testimony of Cemetery Sup- 
erintendents, the hardest problems that come before them is to 
keep back the accumulation of materials that are never useful 
but only detrimental. 
Among the needless incumbrances may be counted the fam- 
ily enclosure, no matter what the structure, whether of stone, 
iron, wood or hedge; all are needless; all become sooner or later 
undesirable; and, generally speaking, the more enduring the ma- 
terial the worse the remedy or final removal. In close relation 
to this same faulty indulgence is the placing of conspicuou 
monumental lot corners. If this device has any utility it is only 
as a marker and should be reduced to a minimum, durable but 
not conspicuous. The association should attend to this need, 
and never allow the lot owner to elect his own provision. 
The selection of routes for drive.s and walks to accommodate 
the grounds, including family lots, combine two important prin- 
ciples; one strictly utilitarian, the other one of adjustment and 
effect. These should never be entrusted to a novice, but rathei 
to an expert of established repute. This subject will therefore 
be best omitted here as not properly belonging among the topics 
of general instruction. Nevertheless the care of these elements 
are matters that demand frequent attention. Drives and walks 
should be thoroughly constructed, complete for actual use, and 
then maintained in good repair and condition, 
A drive overgrown with grass and weeds ceases to serve any 
air recognition of the purpose contemplated in the plan or lay- 
out, and the same remark applies to walks. But 1 wish to no- 
tice here a neglect far too common in cemeteries, that is, the re- 
moval of the soil, proper enough as a first step towards making 
the walk, and then leaving the refill for an indefinite period so 
that the walk becomes a ditch or canal rather than for its intended 
purpose. 
All walks should be filled flush, or nearly so with adjacent 
lawns, so that really no actual shoulder exists between the walk 
and lawn. Then the mower can pass freely over the walk from 
lawn to lawn without needless inconvenience. This method al- 
so insures a good appearance and effect with good clean drives 
and walks, we also need good lawns, these often need the sup- 
port of proper fertilizers and irrigation; without thrift and vege- 
tation they are impossible to get; with thrift and frequent clip- 
ping they are always attainable, always highly appreciated. 
B. F. H. 
“The Cemetery Can Also be Hade an Educator.” 
I copy the title of this short paper from a half sentence in 
our leading article of Februar}^ Further along in the same 
number on page 209, there are descriptions of actual work which 
interweave themselves with my preconceived ideas with consid- 
erable completeness. In a description of East Linwood Ceme- 
te.iy it is-said: “It is proposed to reserve portions surrounding 
the ravine for purely ornamental or park purposes.” Further it 
is said; “This portion of the ground is absolutely free from trees 
or undergrowth and will be planted and beautified entirely ac- 
cording to Mr. Hobert’s ideas.” » 
I am delighted to read it, for in such manner alone can a 
ree gardener justify his art. There seems to be some misap- 
I rehension in the minds of some of your correspondents about 
gardeners and garden art, engendered no doubt by an examina- 
tion of work designed to set a crowd agape, — such as Echeveria 
horses, and I’residents in buttons. .Such work is not “Landscape 
(iardening,” but a mere exaggeration of florists wire work, which 
can never “educate” anyone, however much it may astonish and 
be marveled at. For the price o an Echeveria world a gar- 
dener, worthy his name, could select enough plants, shrubs, and 
trees, to teach all the children of a town the whole scheme of 
th.' Vegetable Kingdom. I repeat and wish to burn it into the 
minds of Bark and Cemetery Trustees, that no single climate 
can well produce more than 3000 distinct and desirable species 
of trees, shrubs and plants, and that such a collection averages 
about 50 cents each or $1,500. There are but few collections of 
hardy plants in this country which contains one-third of 3,000 
desirable species. I know of small public parks which have cost 
well on $200,000 where over 30,000 trees and shrubs have been 
planted in less than 40 species. They are not educational, and 
you may be absolutely certain that no Landscape (iardener ever 
had a word to say about them, or a thing to do with them. They 
were just put into the ground but more carelessly than a mason 
lays bricks in a wall, or a florist builds flowers in a frame. 
The cemetery or the park may and should aim higher. It 
is easy enough to guard against “quacks and shysters” as your 
correspondent on page 207 calls them. If they exist, they cer- 
tainly should not, if a single educated gardener lives anywhere 
within hailing distance. You may ask; How are you to know 
even a competent gardener? Well that is easy enough. Ask 
him to read off a page of a gardener’s dictionary and explain it; 
if he cannot do that to the satisfaction of a Botanical Professor 
you may be absolutely certain that he has no business to call 
himself a Landscape Gardener, or a Landscape anything else. 
Neither is map making landscape gardening, several of the 
best the world has ever known could not or would not draw. 
But they knew plants thoroughly, and could group them. 
James MaePherson. 
New Brigh i'on, Pa. Feb. 17, 1896. 
Editor Park and Cemetery. 
Dear Sir; — In reply to question of W. R. C., on page 197 
ol Park and Cemetery for January 1896. I wish to state that 
several years ago I removed the remains of a full grown man, 
who had died from smallpox, and had been buried about fifteen 
years. I had no trouble at all. 
Hezekiah Hulme, Asst. Supt., Grove Cemetery. 
Association of American Cemetery Snperintendents. 
O. C. SIMONDS, “Graceland,” Chicago. President. 
G.W. CREESY,'‘Harmony Grove,” Salem. Mass., Vice-President. 
F. EURICH, Woodlawn. Toledo, O.. Secreltry acd Treasure 
The Tenth Annual Convention will be held at St. Louis, 
date to be announced later. 
